Child tax credit extension in Pa.: What we know about whether it could last until 2025
Candy WoodallAs Democrats work in Washington, D.C., this week to avert a potential government shutdown, the majority party is also debating how to extend the child tax credit being received by millions of Pennsylvanians.
If lawmakers can't reach an agreement to avoid a shutdown, October child tax credit payments, Social Security payments and other federal business could be delayed.
Negotiations this week have included the fate of the child tax credit program, whether it should continue and who should receive the full benefit.
Pennsylvania Democrats estimate the child tax credit, made possible by the American Rescue Plan, is helping 2 million children across the state and lifting about 140,000 out of poverty.
"When the middle class receives a tax cut, it not only benefits working families but also grows the economy," Congressman Mike Doyle, D-Allegheny, said in a statement.
Most Republicans have not embraced the child tax credit, and every Pennsylvania Republican voted against the first round of payments earlier this year. For example, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh, described it as one of the items on a "liberal wish list."
As lawmakers consider an extension, even moderate Democrats, such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, think a work requirement should be attached to the child tax credit.
The child tax credit payments that began in July are set to continue through December. They provide American families with mid-monthly payments of up to $300 per child.
House Democrats have proposed continuing the payments through 2025 and making them permanent for families with little to no income.
Married couples that earn less than $150,000, head of household filers who earn less than $112,500 and separate filers who earn less than $75,000, are eligible for up to $3,600 per child younger than 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17, according to the current law.
Half of that is being paid monthly through December, and half can be claimed on 2021 tax returns.
Families with higher incomes can still claim the $2,000 credit per child that was in place before the child tax credit went into effect.
Calls for an extension to the program were met with a sharp rebuke from Republicans on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, a panel that includes Congressmen Mike Kelly, R-Butler, and Lloyd Smucker, R-Lancaster.
"Democrats have turned the Child Tax Credit into Welfare Without Work, which if they make permanent will harm families, risk the loss of billions of taxpayer dollars in waste and fraud, and cost American jobs," committee Republicans said in a joint statement earlier this month.
House Democrats are pushing forward, and discussions this week indicate an extension could be approved through the budget reconciliation process, which requires a simple majority vote in the Senate.
But Senate Democrats will need a 'yea' vote from Manchin to make that happen. The West Virginia senator continues to say he would only support an extension to parents who work and file taxes.
Economists and the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank, called on Congress to make the credit permanent, claiming it immediately improves children's health and education.
The Bipartisan Policy Center said it worked with experts from both parties before it issued its recommendation to congress to expand the credit.
A tax credit expansion would bring more than 4 million Americans out of poverty, including more than 2 million children, the center said in its findings.
"These credits are effective anti-poverty and family-support policies that have historically earned strong bipartisan support."
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Candy Woodall is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania Capital Bureau. She can be reached at 717-480-1783 or on Twitter at @candynotcandace.